Wenger, Spend Some Money.

Well we all had the opportunity to closely scrutinise and compare Walcott with Mahrez on Saturday, having watched it which of the two would you prefer at THOF? Both had the best of the half chances and neither could convert them into goals. I know who I would prefer to be turning out in the glorious red and white of Arsenal next week at Watford which would you?

It seems to be coming clearer that Arsenal didn’t even put a bid in for the Algerian, the strongest rumour circulating is that it was Mahrez’ agent was feeding the press to get a better deal for his client.

To a certain degree it is understandable that Wenger didn’t try and get involved. If your philosophy is that you are only going to buy if that purchase improves the existing squad then it sort of makes sense. Is Mahrez really that much better than Theo?

While we are on the subject of comparisons, who do you think is the better striker out of Welbeck and Vardy? Well, I suppose that while Welbeck is injured the answer has to be Vardy but when both are fit the answer should surely be the other way round. Vardy might not come across as the sharpest tool in the box but he knew enough to see that he was being brought to be an understudy and as soon as Welbeck was back he would be riding the pine. There was no other way that this was going to play out and as such the best Arsenal could offer him was a three year deal and that was generous. This restriction made it easy for Leicester who simply made him an offer of four years which was an offer he couldn’t refuse and we move on or am I missing something?

We have to do Mustafi again but for a change try to imagine for a minute that you are Peter Lim the owner of Valencia who happens to also be one of the most successful investors in Singapore, so we can take it as green that he knows a thing or two about negotiations; he also has a lot of connections with the EPL so he also knows how things work here.

OK, it is pretty clear that Arsenal have made a bid for Mustafi so if you were Peter Lim what would you do? Accept the offer or knowing that you have Arsenal in the bag wait to see if Chelsea or even Liverpool come in for him? Let’s not forget that Liverpool are desperate for additional bodies in defence and the fact that Klopp is a fellow German would also surely be a draw.

Who cares just spend some money and buy him. Not that easy really. Unfortunately it’s not Tesco’s in which the price for every item is fixed, all you need to do is pick one up and take it to the counter and pay for it. But we need him just make it happen Wenger; if we had had him against Liverpool we might well have won. Not so, it is easy to forget that ‘A’ he played in the Euros and therefore would not have been ready to play against Liverpool and ‘B’ that he was injured; he is only now getting close to being able to play again.

Could you imagine the fall out if Wenger had signed a player who was not good to go? In the mean time it has given Wenger the opportunity to get a good look at Holding who even the most mean spirited of Arsenal supporter has to admit is doing well. This means that in the near future we are going to have Gabriel and Koscielny on the pitch and Mertesacker, Holding and Chambers on the bench as cover. Where does Mustafi fit in?

I suspect I will read comments that this is just another example of Wenger’s indecision; so in advance of that, I think that it is worth remembering how decisive the club were when signing our last significant player – Xhaka. As clear an example as you will find of a player who came available and would improve the squad, no fuss, no faff, £30 million paid, job done.

The whole thing I suppose comes down to whether you believe Wenger or you don’t, I am fairly obviously one of those who does, I believe him when he says that he is ready to spend if the right player becomes available. I agree with him when he says that good players become available at the end of the transfer window. Lacazzete is available now and the club have put in a reasonable offer for him, Lyon are playing hard ball and have reportedly upped the asking price to £70 million. A figure that doesn’t reflect the value of a player who couldn’t even get into the French Euros team; so now imagine you are Wenger, do you spend the money you have on Lacazzette today or wait a little longer and try and get Draxler?

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141 Responses to Wenger, Spend Some Money.

With Mustafi I would argue that Merts is coming to the end of his Arsenal career and therefore getting a young, solid replacement like him would be ideal. If I were Arsene it would be Mustafi in, Chambers out on loan. Holding would be held back a bit for now, as would Bielik who also looked very promising in pre season. If Chambers has a poor season on loan then I’d be tempted to let go and bring Holding and Bielik through who both are younger and look more solid (very early days though, obviously).

We also need to make decisions on our wide players. It’s great to have players fighting for positions, but it’s time Wenger made a decision and had a first choice for each position rather than chopping and changing between the likes of Walcott, Ox, Iwobi, Campbell, Sanchez, Welbeck etc. I get the feeling we are going to have the same issue in midfield with Wilshere, Ramsey, Elneny, Coquelin, Xhaka and Cazorla fighting for 2 spots. Obviously different opposition means different players are needed, but I want a bit more ruthlessness in Wengers decisions. It’s unfair to judge him at this stage because of injury, players rested etc but going forward I hope we see a clear outline of who our first choice XI are.

I asked the question about Mahrez in a recent post but no-one rose to the bait. IMO, there was no way AW wanted him unless he could have sold Theo (and who would pay his wages??). Sadly, given the choice of the two players I would prefer Mahrez.

Lacazette. In a seller’s market the prices are ludicrous. If the 3rd choice French International CF is worth €70m how much is the first choice worth? Would anyone with a brain sign Giroud for €90m? And OG must be worth the money – he is certainly the better player. 20 PL goals a season and the 2nd highest goalscorer at the Euros.

I expect us to sign a CB and possibly Draxler, though he refused us just a season ago.

Any problems have been exacerbated by Wenger’s indecision and his belief that both Gabriel and quite unbelievably Mertesacker were earmarked to partner Koscielny this season without the need for further addition.The fact is…Wenger should have been planning to bring in an experienced CB as soon as the Window opened.Personally I would have chosen Ashley Williams.He has the right kind of experience and has leadership qualities.Mustafi is a German International and whilst Valencia believe that Arsenal are desperate,they will now hold out for a fee that Wenger will refuse to pay.If they were to buy him they should have done so…before the Euros when they would have undoubtedly been asked to pay between £5 and £10 m less.Wenger’s transfer policy is at best careful but in actual fact both dithering and clueless.

Could be worse, we could be about to pay Danny Drinkwater £90k a week! 😂

I’ve already said I’m not convinced on Lacazette so I would be looking elsewhere. I think the winger might be the way to go. Draxler is the main option but other than him I’m not sure. Yarmalenko maybe? Lucas from PSG? Carrasco from Atletico?

Williams 3 years ago, definitely, Williams at 32? Not so sure. Williams or nobody, then definitely Williams, but if we get a 24 year old German international instead, or someone else, then I’d take that.

There is zero proof that the Mustafi deal hasn’t been done because of Wenger dithering. How do we know it’s not because Valencia want a replacement before they let him go? Or because we are waiting to make sure his injury is ok?

My favourite rumour at the moment is that Valencia now want £50m for Mustafi so they can launch a bid for Pedro from Chelsea. All this even though it’s widely been reported that Mustafi has a release clause of £42m! 😂

Theo v Mehrez – Mehrez, I think he is a better all arounder. Can score, drop deeper, hold the ball better than Theo. Theo should have been sold last season, instead of his contract being extended by 4 more years. That was mistake

Another defender is an absolute necessity. Holding and Bielik looked good, but they are kids! It is not even far to put such huge responsibility on young shoulders. More savvy opponents will destroy them. An experienced player, like Mustafi could be perfect.

The negotiating bit is a tricky subject for me. I hate negotiations, no idea how to do it. If I am happy with the deal I pay the full price. If I am not happy then I go away. Not best approach, but least confusing for me and others.

There are 10 days left, perhaps we will get a striker on a cheap, but my golden rule is ‘you get what you pay for’

He’s nearly 3 years older than Renato Sanches who’s just gone to Bayern for £35m and lit up the Euro’s.
He’s 2 years older than Tielemans who’s played 120 games for Anderlecht including CL ties.
He’s older than Dele Alli.

Wenger is in a bind here. I see no evidence that he has missed a potential signing by being stingy:

Higuain: Never interested in coming (this time around). Was always staying in Italy. Morata: Ditto but was always going back to Madrid. Icardi: Agent was absolutely clear all they wanted was more money. Lacazette: A bid was made and Lyon said no. I believe Wenger is lukewarm on the player and only bid due to lack of alternatives. But is it worth paying £50m on a player not necessarily any better than what we’ve got? A debatable point. And Lyons may have asked for even more than that. Aubemayang: Not interested. Lewandowski/Griezmann: No info on these two. Have we secretly asked and been told, ‘no thank you, not interested’? Lukaku: Rumours suggest he may go back to Chelsea. Chelsea have played a blinder with their transfers as due to selling players they’ve not actually got a very high net spend. So they could buy Lukaku and still keep Costa. Draxler: Scraping the barrel in terms of likely cost and the fact he isn’t a striker. Plus his club don’t want to sell him.

I think the issue is that this is the 3rd season in which we’ve had the same issue. Surely someone will have emerged in that time? Well, I guess it was Vardy, but he chose to stay at Leicester. Anyone else emerged as a serious attacking talent in those 3 years? Lacazette? Dybala?

Another one is Islam Slimani who is 28 and has scored 46 goals in his last 79 games. Oh, and guess what, he plays for Sporting Lisbon who we just loaned Joel Campbell to. Hmmm…..

Good Article. Unfortunately most us the fans do not do an thorough analysis of the situation as you’ve done. We rather tend to follow the press. Sadly Wenger has created an image for himself and we have already concluded he is a person who doesn’t want to spend so every rumour fits that profile and we accept it is fact.

Fair point Eddie, but still, the age argument is irrelevant. Experience argument is another thing, and I agree we need someone with more experience in that position, but if we kept Holding and played him every week, then he will become a far better player for it. He didn’t look out of place against Leicester. I would argue you can get away with 1 youngster in any position but it’s when you play a few it becomes a problem.

Ok, not answering your question but what about just going out and buying Wilfred Bony. Pretty sure he would improve our squad and be prepared to play from the start and fight for his place. We don’t have a deep enough squad so whilst we keep waiting on players to come back from injury or international duty we are falling further and further behind our rivals.

He’s been pretty awful at City though. I get what you are saying about injuries, but the issue then comes up that when Welbeck is back, Bony wouldn’t be getting a game and suddenly we have a 28 year old on £100k a week who has a few years left on his contract and Wenger gets slated for that. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t!

Wenger has already outlined that cost, age, sell on value and what the player brings to the team are the things they look at when signing someone. I’m not sure Bony fits that well into that model. I suppose you could say the same about Slimani who I’ve just mentioned so maybe that’s why the ST hunt is doomed! 😄

Campbell was an excellent squad player. Good enough to play with the big boys and keep play moving. Came back and helped the defence. Walcott, especially at his wages, is not a squad player. Belatedly wenger has figured out that he needs to figure out if walcott is good enough or not. A bit late in the day for that. Otherwise he chews up too much of the budget. I’d have kept campbell and sold walcott.
With wenger moaning about finances again i suspect campbell was moved on to make room for whomever comes in.

wenger has left himself in a bind. It’s obvious to everyone that he needs a cb. He’s going to have to pay over for anyone he gets.

The debate about the teams mental toughness is raised again. Viera’s comments about the team were interesting, even telling. It’s not just the fans.

Wenger clearly said that some things happen in the last week of the window. Which decent players may get offloaded then? Rodriguez? I’m just guessing he has a target but it’s not someone we expect. I would be staggered if we buy no one.

cheers wally. yep, same old, for years we have been accused of lack of physical power and leadership. Wenger prefers smaller, slimmer and faster players. Do you think he sold Na$ri because of his fat arse?

Isn’t Vieira just speaking as a fan there though? Nothing new in those comments except for the part about ex players at Arsenal. The bits about mental strength and physicality are old hat. We have a powerful enough side to deal with the ever decreasing contact sport that is football these days. Espescially when we have a spine of Cech, Kos, Xhaka, Coquelin, Giroud. I think the days of Arsenal getting bullied by the likes of Stoke are gone. You could argue about our mentality I suppose but those accusations are thrown at every single club that hasn’t won the league for a while. We had the ‘mental strength’ to come from behind to win the FA Cup and had the ‘mental strength’ to win it again the year after. We’ve had the ‘mental strength’ to fight our way into the top 4 from precarious positions in the past. On the other hand we didn’t have enough ‘mental strength’ to sustain a title challenge last season. Personally I think Its a very loose term that doesn’t mean a great deal, but that’s just me!

Evonne, I really hope you will get your excitement back and you are not alone in believing that a new quality signing or two will do the trick. I don’t disagree with you totally, but just feel that we will be okay one way or another (as I believe in the quality of the wider squad but can also see us add when the moment comes). I just wish supporters would back off a bit and give Wenger a chance to get things right. Let’s make some judgements say after 10 PL games.. 🙂

I’m always reading but rarely posting maybe once a year if that! Your blog is a refreshing alternative to the plastic vermin blogs that go on with this Wenger out business. Sensationalist media have turned on him and even our former legends are getting in on the act from Henry to Vierra.

I like that you’re speaking on transfers but is everyone forgetting the 2 FA cups in 3 years, the runners up finish in the league? Let’s stop acting like we finished mid table like the Chavs and pool or have an overpriced overrated squad of selfish wage earners like manure and citteh. These ungrateful spoilt brats are going to force Wenger to leave.

The board should hike up the gate prices since these vermin want the club to spend where do they think the money will come from? We aren’t Chavs or Citteh bankrolled by crooks we got really classy ownership and history a self sustaining club so if we want the Pogba’s of the world and compete with the Madrids lets double or triple the gate prices while we’re at it lets pay Wenger what he’s worth. Can you imagine what Wenger could do at money rich clubs? He’s the best manager ever he’s due a raise and a 5 year extension because without him we’d be screwed we’d be bottom half of the table behind chavs and pool without their spending power.

These idiots that speak about Leicester with their money well they entered the elite circle once in their lifetime but we the Arsenal have been there 19 straight years thanks to the greatest manager in football today and arguably the best ever of all time! Forget signings the most important signing is Monsieur Wenger Le Professeur! In Wenger we trust!!!

look at city what they have achieved since 201m when they started buying players to improve the squad…i dont know whats wrong with wenger and the board,they are just running the club like a bank…they have forgotten about the fans that they need trophies to show for the money they pay everyweekend..wengerout

Anyone seen the quotes apparently by Wenger today or presumably very recently where he said that negotiations for Mustafi go on behind the scenes but he isn’t our only target?

I can imagine that he isn’t the only one in case it falls through but I’m concerned there isn’t any noise on a striker. Clearly we’re not in negotiations for one… Yet.

Do you think we could go for Lukaku in the end? Premier League seasoned, good numbers, reassuringly expensive but young so not a short term solution? No one has seemingly tried to buy him yet. Everton don’t have to sell but money talks.

Over the past several days the comments on this subject have been remarkably civil and respectful which is a credit to the participants and AA admin for creating a site that is based on open dialogue. However I have a fear that eventually it will become heated and emotions will overtake a well thought out ethos.

My views on the subject have never deviated and I remain an AW stalwart, so I’m going to limit my input today.

Thanks for the post LB – a very well reasoned and rational view of matters transfer 🙂

To take a couple of points: I do believe Mahrez is considerably better than Theo even if not apparent at the weekend.

I agree with you that a fit Welbeck is more ‘Arsenal’ than Vardy. We have to hope he can stay injury free to show his potential.

We have bought a player to fill a gap who was not ‘good to go’ – Kim Kahlstrom 🙂

I agree that when we really want to go for a player it is very obvious and Xhaka is just such an example.

I’m surprised you say it all comes down to whether we believe Wenger because on many occasions you have stated that ‘of course he’s not telling the truth, lying is part of the negotiation process and AW doesn’t want to show his hand’

Lastly I do not believe Arsene helps himself sometimes when he makes unnecessary statements like the ‘600 employees’. This was bound to rile some and I see a worker in the club shop on minimum wage has left over it and her scathing letter of resignation is all over twitter.

Lost out on Williams! What about my other long time suggestions of Javier Hernandez. A genuine goal scorer full of battling qualities, much more like Griezmann as a partner for Djourou and more likely than any ST so far suggested to get on the end of Ozil’s genius passes. Only problem is Bayer Leverkusen are a big enough club to want 60m!!!

I am going out on a limb here and guessing you might find funny a programme I watched on BBC Iplayer last night. Have a look at “Fleabag”. To me it is British humour at its best. I am convinced that Didit would like it.

I wasn’t offended, didn’t even realise it was aimed at fans like me – passionate, ambitious, caring about the club and wanting the best for the AFC, And on top of it – smart, good looking and intelligent. Beat that chasey 🙂

Interesting to hear another manager talk about the obsession that is the transfer window. Klopp was talking about how nobody believes in doing work on the training ground anymore and that the only way to plug a gap is to buy someone. The window even has its own to shows now with transfer update sections on Sky Sports News and even a final full day episode getting instant reaction and live feeds. It’s become a thing in itself that is almost seperate from the actual football. Bragging rights can be earned just by simply buying someone, regardless of how they perform in the season.
I can understand how this would irk managers as they become almost redundant, with success coming because they bought the right players rather than anything they actually did throughout the season. Sanchez is s great example of the problem. He’s probably got more talent than any player we can realistically bring in, but when Wenger says he’s going to use him as a striker, it’s disregarded as nonsense and just Wenger being tight. The reality though is that Sanchez could very well be a world class CF. You can’t argue with his talent and workrate and we all know he can finish. We just need to find the right system. Fans won’t have it though as they want a shiny new toy even if he’s not as good as Sanchez.

I think Gabriel needs a bit of time. The language thing has obviously been a big issue and he’s never really had a consistent run of games alongside Kos. I’m not sure how much time he will be given though. One of my moaning friends was comparing him to Squillaci after about 5 games, but then he also said Giroud was the same as Chamakh after 1 season!

If we do sign someone lets hope we dont have the same luck (poor training, Rasp!) as West Ham. Club record transfer of £20m goes off injured 30 minutes into debut and out for 4 months needing surgery! Could happen to anyone.

I don’t doubt Vieira’s knowledge of football, I doubt his inside knowledge of Arsenal. The comments he made are not really an attack on Wenger, in fact in part of the interview he praises him for sticking to his guns whilst the fans moan about new signings, but if it fits your rhetoric for it to be an attack on the club then good stuff.

I guess you could say that mental strength is what separates a team that wins the FA Cup twice in 3 seasons to all the teams that didn’t win anything.

I was just having a think about the Özil and Sanchez contract situation and how Wengers future will effect how that pans out. I think Özil espescially has made it clear in interviews that it was the prospect of working with Arsene that lured him to the club. I wonder how fans that desperately want Wenger gone would feel about Özil and Sanchez following him out the door? If it turned in to a you stay, I stay situation it could be interesting. Hopefully won’t come to that but it could.

It had nothing to do with word games. The words you used today were ‘Viera speaking as a fan? Pfffffft. These efforts to minimise criticism of wenger are terribly flat.’ Maybe I read it wrong with me being childish and all, but that would indicate that you thought what Vieira was saying was a criticism of Wenger.

I think communication is vital for a CB partnership. The basics of defending are obviously the same wherever you go, but to be a solid unit you have to be able to talk each other. Plus it helps off the field for settling in, banter with teammates etc. I have my doubts about Gabriel aswell, but I think he could still prove to be a very useful player for us. Time will tell I guess.

seriously?! I am impressed, travelling the world to play game you love. Fair play to you waldo

virtual chats are the easiest way to have an argument with a complete stranger, can’t see the face, can;t hear emotions in the voice, just read what you want to read. oh, and some, like me become keyboard heroes and take on the whole Wenger loving AA blog 🙂 🙂

FGG 7:47, I have often thought the same. It would be a major reality shock if star players were to leave because Wenger was to leave. There was an instance were the players went over to the fans to celebrate a goal and turned back when they saw they were anti-Wenger. All these attacks on the clubs by supposed fans (fueled by media) will also be having an effect on the players and could even be a reason why some players do not want to join us. I still believe it was a major reason why we lost the opportunity to win a 3rd FA Cup. The more we were successful in the FA Cup, the more it was ridiculed as not being a major trophy/achievement (tell that to Manure). The 12th man (the fans) that are there to help their team win have joined the opposition. Booing our team whilst they are still playing, who does that, the opposition does that.

Could you imagine how the criticism of Wenger would be if this was playing out behind the scenes –

G’day Mr Lewandowski, its Arsene here and I’d like you to join Arsenal.
Oh hi Arsene. thanks for that and I’d be honoured to join you as I’ve been waiting for this great opportunity. Umm! However its a bit of shit sandwich at the moment over there and they want you out and you yourself have not re-signed for after this season. I tell you what, if you sign up for a few more years then I’ll sign up as well, ok?
Sorry Robert, I can’t do that.
I’m sorry too Arsene, I’ll have to say no then. But I’ll tell you what, at your next club, give me a call and I’ll jump on a plane, ok?
Agreed!
cheers old man.

Now I may be banging the table here, but I think what you’re saying in a roundabout way is that I support Wenger too much! Shame on me. I will try and dial it down a bit and just blindly agree with your viewpoint. Would that be better? Maybe I’ll throw in a few criticisms now and again although I’ll just have to copy the ones you write because I’m incapable of acknowledging any myself.

I thought you were off to your room again. And yet here you are.
Support him all you want, til the cows come home. You’d make a better point if you were able to support him with the facts and not by attempting to diminish the other point of view.

James, Piss off with your petition. No one gives a rats ass about a GD petition. Wenger will finish off the contract and then we’ll see. If he doesn’t win then he should go. And the number of fans who think he should go will only increase.

If the last two days have proved anything about having AA at its peak then surely it is:

1. Chas must never work again and dedicate his time exclusively to AA visuals.
2. Eddie must never again wear her purple peace dm’s, but remain laced into her new steel capped industriAl boots
3. Didit must remain on the continent

micky – I was thinking about bloggers yesterday and thought that fattie must be on holidays, good and GiE must be working hard, also good. I was petrified that GiE will join, bamboozle me with stats and win the debate 🙂

I work 3 on 3 off Eddie but then I’m off 2 days holiday next week so in the next 9 days I only work Friday! Sorry, you might have to put up with me diminishing your point of view for a while longer! 😂😂

Sounds like a post to me BR. In short though I would say yes we could, but only if Cech, Kos, Sanchez, Özil and Bellerin avoid any real injuries all season. It’s always the same issue that we have which is injuries show how thin our squad is. Only 2 ways to rectify that, buying players or not getting injuries.